Ed Balls is barracked by noisy Conservative MPs, at one point struggling to
make himself heard, as he responds to George Osborne’s Autumn statement in
the House of Commons

Ed Balls was barracked by noisy Conservative MPs, at one point struggling to make himself heard, as he responded to George Osborne’s Autumn statement in the House of Commons.

Mr Balls’ performance might stoke suggestions that Mr Miliband should replace him with a new shadow Chancellor to provide a clean break with the link to the previous Labour government ahead of the 2015 general election.

Unlike the debate that follows the Budget, the shadow Chancellor is required to respond to the Chancellor after the Autumn statement.

As Mr Balls stood up to speak, a baying crowd of Conservative backbenchers, buoyed by news of the recovery in Mr Osborne’s statement, repeatedly tried to shout down Mr Balls.

They repeatedly yelled taunts such as “New Balls please”, “Taxi” and “flat line Ed” – a reference to Mr Balls’ jibe to Mr Osborne when the economy was not improving - to put him off.

Mr Balls also accused Mr Osborne of “stealing Labour’s clothes” over a plan to shake up green levies and cut energy bills by £50. Mr Balls added: “We know you are not very good at shooting badgers, you are not very good at shooting other people’s foxes either.”

There is growing concern on the Labour side that Mr Balls has not developed a coherent answer to the evidence that the Coalition's economic policies are starting to bear fruit.

One Labour MP said: "His whole cost-of-living argument is time-limited: if we get more strong growth people will start to feel more positive about their finances. And if that happens, we're in trouble. Ed doesn't seem to have an answer for that at the moment."

Another Labour MP was said to have concluded that - after his performance in the Commons - Mr Balls had "f***** it up".

But, speaking to reporters, afterwards, Mr Balls, shrugged off the criticism, although he did admit to having a sore throat. He said: “It was very, very loud but every now and again that is how the House of Commons is. You have got 300-plus Tory MPs all shouting very loudly…

“I am not going to allow 300 Tory MPs to drown me out and if that means I am going to shout loudly, I am going to shout loudly."

Asked if he had heard any of the taunts from the Conservative MPs, he added: "To be honest when you are standing there it is so loud you can’t hear anything that is going on, so I don’t hear any of the barracking.”

Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, is understood to have been relaxed about the barracking of Mr Balls by the Conservative MPs.

A source close to Mr Clegg said after the debate: “Given that Ed Balls dishes it out, he should be able to take it.”